Around a thousand expat homeowners in the town of Zurgena, Spain, have been
assured that their properties are legal and will not be demolished - but
they are far from convinced.

The homes, the majority of which belong to British expats, were deemed illegal after being built on non-urban land in 2004.

Despite assurances from the town's mayor, Candido Trabalon, that the homes will not be demolished, residents remain sceptical and fear that regional government will override the decision made by the local council.

The homes, the majority of which belong to British expats, were deemed illegal in 2007 by the Andalucia regional government after being built on non-urban land from 2004.

According to regional government, the local council's proposed urbanisation of 358 hectares of land, on which many new expat developments had already been built, did not adhere to a planning legislation that came into effect in 2003.

Flanked by his legal team and facing 12 separate criminal proceedings for allegedly authorising the building of the illegal homes, the mayor explained at a meeting with residents that Zurgena council would grant provisional approval to its entire town plan in March with the intention of submitting it to the regional government.

He stated that if the regional government did not respond within three months the plan would be approved by “administrative silence”.

The meeting concluded with the mayor calling for the residents to be calm and not waste money on lawyers, stating that the town hall was paying for the defence of all the homes in the courts; that all houses were legal, would not be demolished and should any infrastructure be required, the town hall would pay for it.

Maura Hillen, president of the expat action group Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No (AUAN) said: "This is nonsense because most town halls are bankrupt or have no money so can't afford to pay for everyone's legal costs or cover infrastructure costs and compensation payouts".

"We recommend that you do seek legal advice because then you will at least know where you stand instead of relying on others to tell you what is happening."

The Almanzora Valley in which the town of Zurgena sits has been blighted as a consequence of arrangements between the then serving town hall officials and builders to construct with licenses granted by the town hall but without authority from the regional government.

Some developers were allowed to construct homes with no licence at all. During this period an estimated £100 million was paid to developers by unsuspecting expat families and pensioners.

Mr Trabalon will face trial in the first of the criminal proceedings brought against him next month together with the town planner, various councillors and members of the business community. He denies all charges.